DOHA: The National Diabetes Centers at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) are offering a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, providing patients with improved access to specialised treatment and offering a range of diabetes-related
services.
The diabetes management teams, which include multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, offer a range of specialist services, including foot care, counselling and education, blood investigation and insulin pump therapy. The National Diabetes Center at HGH was opened in 2013 and gets about 2,000 adult and 700 paediatric patients every month. The new diabetes centre at AWH, which was inaugurated in December 2014, receives approximately 400 patients per month.
“The vision for the National Diabetes Centers is a patient-centered facility that offers diabetes treatment through an interdisciplinary team approach. With centres located at both Hamad General Hospital (HGH) and Al Wakra Hospital (AWH), these facilities serve as one-stop shops in which patients can speak with specialist doctors and nutrition experts, understand their disease status, adjust medications and treatment plans as needed, and learn how to manage their condition,” said Professor Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra, Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at HMC.
Professor Abou-Samra said the facility at AWH has improved overall patient waiting times at HMC, reducing the wait list for diabetes care at Hamad General Hospital and in turn improving patient outcomes and satisfaction levels. He added that the National Diabetes Centers are an integral part of the newly launched Supreme Council of Health National Diabetes Strategy, which aims to connect all health providers in Qatar as part of efforts to further develop health services delivered to diabetes patients.
“We’ve brought together highly-specialised services in one location, providing patients with the tools they need to manage their disease from the onset. The opening of the National Diabetes Center at AWH is particularly noteworthy in that it has significantly increased HMC’s capacity to provide specialised diabetic care to our population. Our colleagues at the Primary Health Care Corporation now have a second location to refer patients who require diabetic care, further easing the pressure on services at HGH and improving our ability to provide the best possible care,” said Professor Abou-Samra.
Last year, HMC launched an awareness campaign designed to increase public understanding of diabetes and to empower residents to take control of their health. The 18-month campaign, which concludes this month, aims to highlight risk factors of the disease, raise awareness of associated signs and symptoms, and provide strategies to manage and prevent diabetes and lifestyle-related conditions.
The Peninsula
